Social activist Ramendra Kumar who is general secretary of the Delhi Shramik Sangathan, a federation of unorganised workers, says gig workers are slightly better treated than domestic workers because, while they may be excluded from public spaces, they do not have to enter homes and this spares them the worst humiliations. “What older Indians do immediately on meeting a maid, cook or cleaner is to ask their name. That tells them instantly both their caste and religion so that Hindus can then exclude certain people, from, say, working in the kitchen because of caste purity” Kumar said. “India is the most stratified and divided society in the world and even new areas of the economy, such as gig workers, are not exempt from the old attitudes that affect traditional workers like maids and cooks which divide us Indians. These people want gig workers to deliver what they want but don’t want to see them or hear them.”
Amrit Dhillon, ‘Delivering discrimination? India’s gig workers see access denied by class divide’, South China Morning Post